beginning the same

Each new year that comes brings with it the feelings of new beginnings. It is a fresh start, a chance to try again, an opportunity to improve. Many make resolutions, promises to themselves to go the distance. However, sometimes those resolutions are blown away by the wind of coming months and busy lives. Whether you are for or against resolutions, a new year is a reminder to take pause and evaluate life: the road one has traveled, the mountains one has struggled up, the wrong turn one regretted, the laughter one experienced and the tears one shed. A new year is a reminder to be grateful for the life we have, to reflect on lessons learned and to look forward to the journey that lay ahead.

But not everything is new in a new year. Most things are actually just carried over. It becomes a new beginning to the same broken arm, a new year with the same sickness, a new day with a loved one still gone. It’s a new year with the same struggles, life, journey. It is heard so much, “out with the old and in with the new”. Yet, we don’t get rid of our experiences, our trials or our celebrations. Without the old, I wouldn’t be here today, I wouldn’t be who I am today.

I don’t say ‘ be gone old year’ thus ridding myself of last years experiences. If I rid myself of a hard time, for instance being turned down to adopt from Colombia because we already have a child, I would then be ridding myself of the healing process Jesus had to work within my heart. I would rid myself of the deep trust I have to walk in, trusting my God has a plan for my family. I am not glad a year is over, I am thankful for what it held, good and not so good.

All this to say, it is a new year with new expectations while walking through life right where we are. I don’t want to rid but to embrace, to accept what was, be joyful within what is now and look ahead knowing more adventure awaits!

I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.